Lasts

Author: Linda Wright

(Linda, an African American graduate of UCB Psychology Dept., spent seven years on the staff of Campus Crusade for Christ. Linda is a married mother of three teens, a storyteller, a writer of unpublished children's books and a counselor with the second step social program for elementary schools).

How many days go by and we don’t realize that this was the last? Our child suddenly doesn’t have the same needs. Several days go by and then we realize - hey, he hasn’t slept with his blankey or drank from a bottle or cried for his binky Mommy and I’ll never Mommy and I’ll never! What’s going on!? I missed the last time he did that!
Do you remember the last day your child suckled at your breast? The last day you carried your growing son on your bent and aching back? The last time you felt your child give you a real tight hug that says “I luv you Mommy and I’ll never let you go”? The last time you styled your daughter’s soft and beautiful hair? The last blessing your daughter wanted you to give to her? The last time your child invited you to read a great book aloud before bed? How about the last time you woke in the night and heard the running footsteps of your son run faster than the “monsters” lurking in the dark places in the house and sighed as he dove into your bed and safely squeezed in between hubby and you? Or the last time your child listened with glistening eyes to your every word and believed every thing you said about God with no hard questions asked?
In Karen Kingsbury’s her children’s book, Let Me Hold You Longer and in her adult book, Rejoice, from the Redemption series, (page 209), Karen shared about celebrating our last days if only we knew they were last. “Would I have taken pictures…if I’d known they were the last? Would I have marked the moments… if I’d known they were the last? Would I have stretched the moments… if I’d known they were the last?...I wish I could’ve frozen time, to hold on to your lasts…”
We’ve had a lot of lasts in this house. Two teens and one living in a college dorm leave us with lasts coming fast. Time is precious and slipping away. I’ve found that writing in a journal, marking my children’s passage from one season to another, gives me some comfort. Putting videos onto DVD’s makes me feel like the past is present. Another comforting thought - knowing the distant future holds many possibilities for more first and last moments: Jobs, marriage and grand children. (Very far in the future I hope!). The most comforting thought is finding gratitude. Throughout the day, I find myself thanking God for little moments and beautiful thoughts.
During the fall, God gives us a glorious look at lasts. Trees turn beautiful colors and brilliant leaves fall to the ground. The sunlight that pours into the house at this time of year is like no other time. We look back to the long, hot days of summer and know that winter’s cold is coming.
What did God feel as he looked at His only Son and experienced Jesus’ last moments as a baby, a boy, a young man, a leader, a dying criminal suffering on the cross? Twice he thundered from the heavens, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.” (Mt. 3:17 and 17:5). The first, God spoke at Jesus’ baptism and the second, during His transfiguration.
We know what Jesus felt during his last night as a natural man on earth. He wanted his last moments to be special. That night was filled with truth talks, servant leadership training, and the first communion for the disciples but the last for Jesus. His disciples didn’t believe this was their last night with their beloved Lord. After Jesus’ death and resurrection, the disciples were often overcome with the strangeness of Jesus appearing out of no where, knowing that he had died and now was alive, able to walk through locked doors, and eat real food.
Lasts are coming and have come. Seasons come and seasons go, never to return. Life is fragile. Most children grow up and move away. Life goes on. Death beats its drum. At some point, pre- determined by God, that drum beats the last moment for each person on earth. Some hear the drum beat earlier than others. With Jesus as our Lord and Savior, death can not hold us but living forever with Jesus will last. Eternity is the absolute last last. Living in eternity is the most glorious last. Celebrate lasts.

Next Week's Author: Jennifer Patchin